Greiss joins Germany

Isles goalie travels to St. Petersburg

New York Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss will join the German national team in St. Petersburg to play in the 2016 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship.

For the 30-year-old it will be the first time he represents his country since the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Greiss also represented his country in 2006 first at the Olympics in Turin and later at the World Championship Division I Group A where Germany earned promotion to the top division.

Since leaving Germany in 2006 the Fussen native has mostly played in North America. This season he shared duties with Jaroslav Halak at the New York Islanders and emerged as number-one goaltender after the Slovak’s injury. In 11 playoff games with the Isles he had a 92.3 save percentage after posting a 92.5 save percentage in 41 regular-season games. With Greiss the Islanders qualified for the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 23 years but lost the series against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.

“Thomas immediately committed to help the team. The last details with his employer were cleared so that he will arrive during the course of Wednesday in St. Petersburg,” German head coach Marco Sturm said.